I'll be ordering my bumblebee gobies pretty soon (when the weather's better/they're in stock) and I've given up on finding them in a pet store (although I'll be trying Animal Jungle in VA Beach soon), so I've got to order them from an online source. Has anyone ever ordered from "That Fish Place" (ThatPetPlace.com) before? I'm mostly just hoping to find out whether or not my fish will arrive healthy, un-battered...alive?

I have ordered from there recently, but not anything live. I did order a new filter and a few odds and ends and it was packaged extremely well.

As far as finding your fish in the store have you asked if they can order them for you? My local LFS (small chain store) didn't stock what I wanted and the fish department manager didn't even know what it was but she took down the information and contacted her suppliers. One of them have them and she will put it with her regular stock order for me at no additional charge. My fish will cost me $3. Ordering online you are looking at $40+ just for freight.

That Fish Place has a pretty darn good reputation. I haven't ordered live fish from them and have never been to the brick-and-mortar store personally, but my brother-in-law has and says it's one of the most immaculate, well-kept stores he's ever been in (plus is apparently absolutely gigantic).

That said, John's advice is good. The reason I've never ordered online is because I've always used that method. Usually your LFS has access to a lot of breeders/suppliers but only orders fish that sell well. They've never charged me shipping as they just add my fish to their regular order.

I have requested the store get some fish that weren't on display form me, but so far I've had no luck. Some stores just completely don't carry the fish I need--and another one only carries marine or freshwater, not brackish. But if I'm positive That Fish Place is good with delivering fish, I don't mind paying forty dollars for shipping. (It was a shock at first but once I thought about it, it was understandable. Fish are alive.)